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“Sonnet 144 (along with Sonnet 138) was published in the Passionate Pilgrim(1599). Shortly before this, Francis Meres referred to Shakespeare's Sonnets in "his handbook of Elizabethan poetry, Palladis Tamia, or Wit's Treasurie, published in 1598," which was frequently talked about in the literary centers of London taverns. Shakespeare's sonnets are mostly addressed to a young man; towards the end of the sonnets (transition starting at Sonnet 127) the "dark lady" comes on the scene. Several sonnets portray a conflicted relationship between the poetic speaker, the "dark lady" and the young man. Sonnet 144 is one of the most prominent sonnets to address this conflict.”

“Anthony Declan James "Tony" Slattery (born 9 November 1959), is an English actor and comedian. He has appeared on British television regularly since the mid-1980s, most notably as a regular on the Channel 4 improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway? His serious and comedic film work has included roles in The Crying Game, Peter's Friends, and How to Get Ahead in Advertising.”

“Mandie Elizabeth Fletcher (born 27 December 1954) is an English television and film director.
Fletcher began her career at the BBC as an assistant floor manager and later production manager on comedy programmes, becoming a director of situation comedy while working on the final series of Butterflies (1983). She followed this with the second (1986) and third (1987) series of Blackadder, for which she won the Best Comedy Series award at the 1988 BAFTAs. She also directed episodes of Only Fools and Horses (1986).”

“Ron Pember (born 11 April 1934, Plaistow, London) is a British actor, stage director and dramatist, best known for his role as Alain Muny in the 1970s BBC drama series Secret Army.
Pember played the part of the psychopathic taxman in the Red Dwarf episode "Better Than Life". He also played the part of Dennis Timson in series 4 to 7 of Rumpole of the Bailey.
He retired from acting in 1992 after a stroke.”

“Alan Bennett (born 9 May 1934) is a British playwright, screenwriter, actor and author. He was born in Leeds and attended Oxford University where he studied history and performed with the Oxford Revue. He stayed to teach and research medieval history at the university for several years. His collaboration as writer and performer with Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller and Peter Cook in the satirical revue Beyond the Fringe at the 1960 Edinburgh Festival brought him instant fame. He gave up academia, and turned to writing full-time, his first stage play Forty Years On being produced in 1968.”

“Ivor Raymonde (born Ivor Pomerance, 22 October 1926 – 4 June 1990) was a British musician, songwriter, arranger and actor, best known for his distinctive rock-orchestral arrangements for Dusty Springfield and others in the 1960s.
He studied at Trinity College of Music, and initially entered professional music as a jazz and classical pianist. He played in various big bands before becoming a music director at the BBC alongside Wally Stott. He worked as a session musician on occasion, playing on and arranging Johnny Duncan's UK hit "Last Train To San Fernando." He also worked as an actor, supporting comedian Tony Hancock in all of the comedian's first TV series in 1956.”

http://shakespeare.acropolis.org.uk/ from shakespeare.acropolis.org.uk

“Lee Montague (born 16 October 1927) is an English actor noted for his roles on film and television, usually playing tough guys.
Film credits include The Camp on Blood Island, Billy Budd, The Secret of Blood Island, Deadlier Than the Male, Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mahler and The Legacy.
Theatre credits include: Who Saw Him Die by Tudor Gates staged in 1974 at London's Theatre Royal Haymarket in which he played the part of John Rawlings the nemesis of former police Superintendent Pratt played by Stratford Johns.”

“Andrew MacLachlan is a Scottish actor who has been active on British television and in films since 1979.
MacLachlan was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford and St Edmund Hall, Oxford. His first screen role came in 1979 when he appeared as a guard in the Life of Brian. He has also appeared in the films Time Bandits, A Fish Called Wanda, Danny, the Champion of the World, Bob's Birthday (as a voice-over), Who Dares Wins, and Trauma. He has appeared in TV serials including Twelfth Night, Play for Today, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Foyle's War, and Pickles: The Dog Who Won the World Cup.”

“Johnnie Wade is a British film and television actor. His most memorable role was playing put upon handyman 'Roger' in comedy series You're Only Young Twice between 1977-81, he is one of only two members of the main cast still living, the other being Georgina Moon.
Born in Bethnal Green, he was a market trader and became a singer in cabaret and with a band after winning talent contests. His first television break was in 1960s soap opera Compact as Stan Millet. He then performed in musicals including South Pacific and Guys and Dolls. His other television appearances include Porridge playing 'Scrounger', Coronation Street and Z-Cars.”

“David Oxley (7 November 1920 – 30 October 1985) was an English actor who made many film and television appearances over a 35-year period. He is best known for portraying Sir Hugo Baskerville in The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959) and for the major role of Captain W. Stanley Moss in Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), based on the true story of the Kidnap of General Kreipe in 1944. David had an extraordinarily powerful voice that he used to great effect, being able to fill an auditorium without the aid of microphones. David suffered a stroke in October, 1985 whilst sunbathing at his hotel in Malaga, Spain. His friend, author Graham Murray, was at his bed-side when he died.”

“Patrick George "Pat" Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction, and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969; he reprised the role in 1973, 1983, and 1985.”

“Frank Barrie (born 19 September 1936) is a British stage and television actor. He made his acting debut in 1959 in a production of Henry IV, Part 2 at the York Theatre Royal. He proved to be a successful Shakespearean actor throughout his career. More recently, he starred in Lunch with Marlene, a 2008 tribute to Noël Coward and Marlene Dietrich and in 2010 was cast as Edward Bishop a choir master.
Frank Barrie was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire on 19 September 1936 to Arthur and Annie Smith. He attended Archbishop Holgate's School and the University of Hull in Kingston upon Hull. He married Maryann Lloyd.”

“Barry Foster (21 August 1927 – 11 February 2002) was an English actor who is best known for playing the title role in Van der Valk, which ran for five series between 1972 and 1992, and as serial killer Bob Rusk in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Frenzy.”

“Dame Gillian Barbara Lynne, DBE (née Pyrke; born 20 February 1926) is a British ballerina, dancer, choreographer, actress, and theatre/television director, noted for her popular theatre choreography associated with the musical Cats and the current longest running show in Broadway history, The Phantom of the Opera. At age 87, she was made a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2014 New Year Honours List.”

“Vernon Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a Franco-British actor.
Dobtcheff was born in Nîmes, France, to a family of Russian descent. He attended Ascham Preparatory School in Eastbourne, Sussex, England, in the 1940s, where he won the Acting Cup. One of his many television roles was as the Chief Scientist in the Doctor Who series The War Games in 1969, in which he became the first actor ever to mention the Time Lords by name.
In his 2006 memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, British actor Rupert Everett describes an encounter with Dobtcheff on the boat train to Paris, and reveals his extraordinary reputation as the "patron saint" of the acting profession, stating that Dobtcheff ...”

“Jonathan Scott (sometimes credited as Jonathan R. Scott) is an English actor most notable for his appearance as Edmund Pevensie in three of the BBC's four adaptations of the Narnia books between 1988 and 1990. He appeared in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1988 as well as Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 1989.
Scott gave up acting in the early 1990s; his final contribution to acting was in a 1991 episode of Poirot.”

“Archie Duncan (26 May 1914 – 24 July 1979) was a Scottish actor born in Glasgow.
Duncan's father was a regimental sergeant major in the army and his mother was a postmistress. He attended Govan High School and began his career in repertory theatre and West End plays.
Although he appeared in over 50 television series and movie roles, he is best remembered for two: Inspector Lestrade in the 1954 series Sherlock Holmes and as Little John in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Richard Greene from 1955 to 1960. He died in London.”

“Clifford Rose (born 24 October 1929) is an English classical actor.
He was born in Herefordshire. He was educated at the King's School, Worcester and King's College London, before appearing in rep and with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
His most notable role was as the character Sturmbannführer Ludwig Kessler in the BBC World War II television drama Secret Army (1977-9) and its sequel Kessler (1981).
He also played leading roles in The Pallisers (1974), Fortunes of War (1987) and Alan Bleasdale's drama GBH (1991). Additionally he appeared as Rorvik in the Doctor Who story Warriors' Gate (1981).”

“Elizabeth Larner (born 1931) is a British actress and a singer with a powerful soprano voice. While her main career was the musical theatre, appearing both in London's West End and on Broadway, she was a seemingly unlikely, but inspired, choice to play Ammonia in the BBC situation comedy Up Pompeii! - a role she made her own. She later appeared in The Two Ronnies, supporting Ronnie Barker as "Piggy Malone" and Ronnie Corbett as "Charley Farley" in the 1981-2 comic detective mystery serial Band of Slaves.”

“Jon Laurimore is a British actor, known for his television appearances.
His TV credits include The Avengers, The Prisoner, Z-Cars, Dixon of Dock Green, Public Eye, Warship, Sutherland's Law, The Onedin Line, Rock Follies, Space: 1999, Doctor Who (in the serial The Masque of Mandragora), I, Claudius, Target, Secret Army, Reilly, Ace of Spies, Minder, Dalziel and Pascoe and Jack the Ripper. He also appeared as police officers in the films A Touch of the Other (1970) and Die Screaming, Marianne (1971).”

“William Simpson "Bill" Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play When We Are Married.”